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[millieshops]

On 2/18/2014 BLH said:

Be careful when buying from Lowe's. Everything is subcontracted. I would be cautious here.

What has been most successful for me over the years when I'm dealing with any of the big national chains has been local recommendations - and that's because of the subcontracting they all do. That subcontractor will ultimately make or break the deal for me. If you know anyone local who has used Lowes, for example, that would usually be most helpful.

Who helps with the design is important, but who does the actual work is even more important. Try to know that before you agree to any contract and read that contract very carefully no matter who it's with!

[Kathy19078]

KathyPet, my house is at least 70 years old. Part of my kitchen ceiling fell down (kitchen is directly under the bathroom) due to a leak from the toilet seal. Had that replaced. I recently also had a leak in the same area, and now it is due to a cracked pipe. My pipes are lead. So I know that the pipes will have to be replaced. My plumber was able to fix the cracked pipe temporarily.

casuallady, was Lowes the only estimate you got? I have a suggestion for you. Go to Angies List and sign up and find a few general contractors. You have to sign up and pay a fee but it is for a year, and there are many other things to use it for. Then call the contractors and get them to come and give you estimates. Or you could see if you can find some local general contractors first and then check them out on Angies List before you call them to come for an estimate. This is what I am doing. I just had a general contractor here today that advertised in my church bulletin. I did check him out on Angies list first. He is going to give me the price next week. He is only the second one so far. I am going to get several other estimates before making a decision.

[KathyPet]

casual lady, Don"t give up on your new bathroom yet. You may be able to find a more reasonably priced contractor on your own. I have used Angie's List several times to find contractors for various projects. Yes there is a fee to enroll on line for a year but then you can search for, locate and read reviews from others who have used this contractor. Better than the yellow pages. Make sure any bids you get list the full scope of the work to be done so nothing is overlooked. Get two references from the contractor for customers he has done similiar jobs for. Get a reference for work recently completed and another for a similiar job done at least a year ago. You want to ensure that the contractors work has held up over time. CAll the references. What work did they have done? were they satisfied? Was the work done on time and within the bid price? If there were additional costs what were they for and did the contractor explain why they were necessary? If there were any issues after the work was completed did the contractor take care of them? If more homeowners did their research properly Mike Holmes on HGTV's Make It Right show would be out of work. The number of people who turn over thousands of dollars to a contractor without checking them out thoroughly astounds me. I feel sorry for them but I think maybe they deserved what they got.

[jeanlake]

What a great idea -- I don't think to call Lowes or Home Depot for those services. How exciting for you --- let us know how this goes.

[sarpy]

You will be glad if you get the higher toilets. I have broken both legs 42 yrs. apart. I needed the higher toilet in 1959 but there was no such thing. Then I broke the other leg in 2001. Got a plastic higher seat to put on a reg. toilet and it makes it so much better. I am now 75 and to have a higher toilet would make things so much easier at this age.

[casuallady]

On 3/1/2014 Kathy19078 said:

KathyPet, my house is at least 70 years old. Part of my kitchen ceiling fell down (kitchen is directly under the bathroom) due to a leak from the toilet seal. Had that replaced. I recently also had a leak in the same area, and now it is due to a cracked pipe. My pipes are lead. So I know that the pipes will have to be replaced. My plumber was able to fix the cracked pipe temporarily.

casuallady, was Lowes the only estimate you got? I have a suggestion for you. Go to Angies List and sign up and find a few general contractors. You have to sign up and pay a fee but it is for a year, and there are many other things to use it for. Then call the contractors and get them to come and give you estimates. Or you could see if you can find some local general contractors first and then check them out on Angies List before you call them to come for an estimate. This is what I am doing. I just had a general contractor here today that advertised in my church bulletin. I did check him out on Angies list first. He is going to give me the price next week. He is only the second one so far. I am going to get several other estimates before making a decision.

We are not giving up! When we general contracted our log home the bids really varied in amounts. One example was the electric, a guy my hubby golfed with came and gave us a bid. We knew it was high, then we got a bid from a neighbor and it was lower. Our third bid was lower. The third guy did our work.

Before we went to Lowes, we went to a Bath and Kitchen place and the guy told us a general bid and it was higher than the Lowes' contractor. My friend gave me the name of a guy that has done work ( a game room) for her nephew, and work for her Mother and they were all pleased. He also showed her pictures of some of his jobs. He is a friend of her nephews. My friend's husband is a retired union electrician and he will probably get him guy to install a glass shower and shower tile in their home, also remove the old Jacuzzi. I am going to call him tomorrow for a bid. I am thinking all Lowes' contractors will vary in price. The area the Lowes' contractor came from was a expensive area. We will probably still get the materials from Lowes.

[KathyPet]

I am sure that I don't need to tell you to get permits if needed for plumbing electrical and any structural work so it will be inspected especially if you are going to use people who do this on the side.

[lolakimono]

Casuallady,

FWIW, I have recently done partial guts of both baths and a total kitchen remodel. I took it down to the studs and sub floor.

My contractor said that most will charge 3x the cost of materials. I was on a budget for both remodels, so here is what I did.

He measured out the flooring and materials, and I got the dimensions of everything. I went to HD and Lowe's and comparison shopped the prices. For the bathroom remodels, I ended up getting a HD card because I was able to get ALL the materials there with no interest financing. (This was due to water damage from a pipe that burst, so although I was insured it didn't cover the plumbing or the materials to upgrade from the previous linoleum to porcelain tile.) I was able to pay his costs upfront and I could wait until I was reimbursed from insurance to pay the HD card. That way I could get the BR that I wanted without having to make sacrifices. I ordered online for the things that they didn't carry in store, and I picked them up myself.

Then, I had a mini HD set up in my BR for all materials related to the bath, and everything was labeled. He went out and got the sheetrock, but I had purchased everything else. I did the same thing for my kitchen (same contractor) and laid out all materials in the DR. Then he could do the work while I was at school (or running errands) and we never ran out of everything. I had everything ready for him, so no construction delays waiting for a part to come in or extra tiles. Not all contractors probably want to work this way, but it worked for us and I'll probably have him back if I need anything else done around the house.

I did a similar thing with my electrician. I got rid of all the ugly mismatched, builder grade fixtures (both inside and outside). I had him come over and view each room, and I had printed out pictures of the fixtures and dimensions so that he could make sure that each fixture would "throw" enough light for the space. He told me he WISHED more homeowners were more like me, because he was able to comment before I ordered the fixtures (they were coming cross country) and he knew ahead of time if he would have any installation challenges. He was able to change out all the lighting, two bathroom fans, and install a new kitchen exhaust in one day plus part of another. Before he came over, I had each fixture ready to go in the room I wanted it so there were no questions. I had the bulbs ready to go too.

[casuallady]

On 3/2/2014 lolakimono said:

Casuallady,

FWIW, I have recently done partial guts of both baths and a total kitchen remodel. I took it down to the studs and sub floor.

My contractor said that most will charge 3x the cost of materials. I was on a budget for both remodels, so here is what I did.

He measured out the flooring and materials, and I got the dimensions of everything. I went to HD and Lowe's and comparison shopped the prices. For the bathroom remodels, I ended up getting a HD card because I was able to get ALL the materials there with no interest financing. (This was due to water damage from a pipe that burst, so although I was insured it didn't cover the plumbing or the materials to upgrade from the previous linoleum to porcelain tile.) I was able to pay his costs upfront and I could wait until I was reimbursed from insurance to pay the HD card. That way I could get the BR that I wanted without having to make sacrifices. I ordered online for the things that they didn't carry in store, and I picked them up myself.

Then, I had a mini HD set up in my BR for all materials related to the bath, and everything was labeled. He went out and got the sheetrock, but I had purchased everything else. I did the same thing for my kitchen (same contractor) and laid out all materials in the DR. Then he could do the work while I was at school (or running errands) and we never ran out of everything. I had everything ready for him, so no construction delays waiting for a part to come in or extra tiles. Not all contractors probably want to work this way, but it worked for us and I'll probably have him back if I need anything else done around the house.

I did a similar thing with my electrician. I got rid of all the ugly mismatched, builder grade fixtures (both inside and outside). I had him come over and view each room, and I had printed out pictures of the fixtures and dimensions so that he could make sure that each fixture would "throw" enough light for the space. He told me he WISHED more homeowners were more like me, because he was able to comment before I ordered the fixtures (they were coming cross country) and he knew ahead of time if he would have any installation challenges. He was able to change out all the lighting, two bathroom fans, and install a new kitchen exhaust in one day plus part of another. Before he came over, I had each fixture ready to go in the room I wanted it so there were no questions. I had the bulbs ready to go too.

We are set as far as lights, size of tiles needed,.. Since the decorator from Lowes came out with the contractor . Did you tear out the old toilets, vanities,... If so how expensive was it for you to have the stuff hauled away. We have a large Jacuzzi, and I am a little nervous about my retired (pretty fit hubby) to tear it out.

The contractor was actually 4 times the materials. Hubby is pretty mechanical, so we are hoping the guy I am calling tomorrow will be open to having him work with him on some of the project. We were planning on doing what you did, since we have the money for the contractor if he comes in a more reasonable price. I opened a Lowes CC and you get 5% off on an order, 0% for 6 mos. I'm not sure how much they will finance for?

[lolakimono]

On 3/2/2014 casuallady said:

We are set as far as lights, size of tiles needed,.. Since the decorator from Lowes came out with the contractor . Did you tear out the old toilets, vanities,... If so how expensive was it for you to have the stuff hauled away. We have a large Jacuzzi, and I am a little nervous about my retired (pretty fit hubby) to tear it out.

The contractor was actually 4 times the materials. Hubby is pretty mechanical, so we are hoping the guy I am calling tomorrow will be open to having him work with him on some of the project. We were planning on doing what you did, since we have the money for the contractor if he comes in a more reasonable price. I opened a Lowes CC and you get 5% off on an order, 0% for 6 mos. I'm not sure how much they will finance for?

I can't speak for Lowe's and their CC, but HD tiers the length of the financing by the amount that you spend. On the bathroom remodel I think it was 6 months. On the kitchen remodel, I got 24 months financing at 0%. Since I only have a mortgage (no car payment) I am just paying $75 a month to keep that credit card "revolving" as an open credit source.

One piece of advice would be to make a list of everything (extra materials included) because usually you have to buy it in one transaction for the CC offer. I did that and then returned anything that didn't get used (extra accent tiles, etc.)

The restoration company got rid of everything related to the BR water damage, so I didn't handle that part. I replaced the toilet "innards" when I moved in, as well as the BR mirrors, BR exhaust fans, paint, and lighting. When I had the water damage, I ripped out the floor (was actually two layers of ugly linoleum), the medicine cabinet, the trim work, and the vanity. There was some pre-existing water damage found on the sub floor, so I replaced that too.

I decided to do partial guts of both bathrooms at the same time since I was buying the materials for one, I might as well do both while the contractor was there. I replaced the shower head, diverter, and got new faucets in an oil rubbed bronze. I left the tub and surround in both as they were structurally fine (as were the toilets).

For the kitchen remodel, the contractor got rid of the cabinets, laminate counters, and flooring. I was so tired of it, I never asked what happened to it as I would have blown it up a la Wile E. Coyote.